slides: Worcester Leaders Chime In on City Employee Residency Question
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Tuesday, March 10, 2015
GoLocal Worcester News Team
Of the 100 highest paid City of Worcester employees, at least 21 of them live outside of the city. The earnings for these employees are more than $3 million.
SEE SLIDES BELOW: Local Leaders Chime in on Worcester Residency Requirements
The 2014 gross earnings of the 21 individuals range between $120,000 to $160,000 a year.
GoLocal Worcester reached out to several prominent voices in the Worcester community and asked them, “Should city employees be required to live in Worcester?”
The overall viewpoint of the local representatives was that Worcester needs to focus on providing jobs for its residents, and hiring Worcester residents for city government positions.
Here are responses to the question: Should City Employees Be Required to Live in Worcester?"
Related Slideshow: Worcester Leaders Chime In on City Employee Residency Question
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John Giangregorio
"City employees should live in the city. City employees should be able to experience the nuances of city life. The experience of the delivery of city services and general condition and costs of city infrastructure," said John Giangregorio, President of the Canal District Business Association.
Giangregrio continued, "City employees have institutional knowledge and a grasp of how the government could work more effectively for our neighborhoods."
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City Councilor George Russell
"I don't believe we should require current City employees to move to Worcester but whenever possible preference should be given to Worcester residents when filling new or open positions in City Government," said Worcester City Councilor George Russell. "The City should make every effort to offer jobs to Worcester residents."
"While state regulations prohibit a strict residency requirement for many City positions it is imperative that we continue the good work of Ed Augustus's outreach to make sure Worcester residents know of job opportunities and scheduling for Civil Service exams."
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John Monfredo, School Committee
“I would like to give Worcester residents preference, if all things being equal, in the hiring of jobs where legal and appropriate," said Worcester School Committee member and GoLocal Worcester Mindsetter.
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City Councilor Gary Rosen
City Councilor Gary Rosen said, “I think that it's much more important for city employees to be skilled and talented. Let's always hire those whose work and work ethic will be most beneficial to our city. If the most qualified candidates live in our city, all the better.
"In any case, it's incumbent upon our elected and appointed officials to provide the leadership and decision-making skills to make Worcester such a healthy, safe and prosperous city that our employees won't want to leave it at the end of the workday.”
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Tom Finneran
Former Massachusetts Speaker of the House and GoLocal Mindsetter Tom Finneran said, "I would say ‘No.’ Ability and talent are not peculiar to a specific address. And ability and talent are the pistons which drive an organization forward. They are not dependent on where one rests his head at night.”
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Gary Vecchio
“By state law, there are certain jobs where this can not be required. Teachers, police, and firefighters are allowed to live outside of the city they work in. I do believe that department heads, and other key administrators earning six figure salaries should live in Worcester. People who are hired for such positions who do not live in Worcester, should be given up to a year to move here," said Shrewsbury Street Neighborhood Association President Gary Vecchio.
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City Councilor Morris Bergman
“We should be negotiating when contracts are up for renewal with our City employee unions to incentivize a higher percentage of our city employees to live in Worcester,” said City Councilor Morris Bergman.
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Paul Giorgio
Local Democratic voice, GoLocal Worcester Mindsetter, and President of Pagio, Inc., Paul Giorgio said "The problem with large cities in the past decade has been urban flight by the middle class. One way to stabilize a city and its neighborhoods is to have city workers live in the city. One impediment to this is state law which allows municipal workers to live in within a certain distance of the city that employees them. I think a carrot can be an incentive program such as low mortgage rates and subsidies. The stick is language that forces new hires to be required to live in the city.”
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Brian O'Connell, School Committe
Worcester School Committee member Brian O'Connell said, "Massachusetts law prohibits us from requiring that certain categories of school district employees reside in Worcester as a condition of their employment. However, we may - and do - insist that several key employees, such as our Superintendent, live in Worcester. I would like us to implement a "preference" in the hiring process for Worcester residents, all else being equal as to training, ability and qualifications, for the positions as to which a preference is legally permissible."
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